


Brighter than Sunshine ~ Volume 1, Chapter 4 "Dating the Daughter of Mercy Graves"

by Cassie_Sandsmark, Somuchbraver



Series: Brighter Than Sunshine Volume 1 [4]
Category: DCU
Genre: Bisexual Female Characters, DC-AU Freeform, F/F, Femslash, Romance, Trans Female Character, lady superheroes kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 17:47:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4189185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassie_Sandsmark/pseuds/Cassie_Sandsmark, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somuchbraver/pseuds/Somuchbraver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While basking in the afterglow of their first night together, the two metahumans are more than eager to arrange a second date- or rather a second “first” date, since their first was called on account of crisis. As their second date begins, Cassie realizes that there are lots of things she doesn’t know about this girl with whom she has made a new connection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brighter than Sunshine ~ Volume 1, Chapter 4 "Dating the Daughter of Mercy Graves"

**Author's Note:**

> This story is about a romantic relationship between Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) and Rule 63'd (female) version of 'Superboy.' We've omitted the majority of the Superfamily from our universe to make this work and set this story 10 years after the events in Man of Steel. 'Superman' has been active for at least that long, and Cassie herself (as Wonder Girl) has been active for a little over 3 years, since she was 15. 
> 
> Be advised that there are subsequent episodes in this same series. You can find the link to the rest of the series at the top of this page. 
> 
> Follow Our Tumblr at (http://brighterthnsunshine.com/) for fan-art, photo manips, information related to our story as it progresses, and more! 
> 
> Mission Statement: Lady superheroes need to make out more.
> 
> Your comments are oxygen to us!

 

## Brighter than Sunshine ~ Volume 1, Chapter 4 "Dating the Daughter of Mercy Graves"

[Brighter than Sunshine Tumblr ](http://brighterthnsunshine.com)

 

The two girls slept soundly through the night in each others’ arms. Samantha spread out a little more in her sleep so the arm that had been draped over Cassie was hanging off the edge of the bed when the sun came up, and the other was jammed up underneath the pillow when the sunlight began to peek through the curtains of her tiny dorm room. But when that light reached her face, she slept peacefully on through it, basking in the glow.

Cassandra, however, woke  _with_  the dawn, stretching and greeting the day with a yawn. The shining light of the sun upon her bare flesh was warming and comforting, and it roused her tenderly from sleep. Stretching her arms and legs out across the mattress while she was still fuzzy-headed from sleep, she unexpectedly encountered the soft, sleep-smoothed flesh of another warm body pressed up against her own, and her eyes blinked open in sleep-addled confusion. Then seeing Samantha’s sleeping face laying restfully on the pillow next to hers, mouth slightly open and gently breathing, fully refreshed her memory of the night before. She smiled dozily at the other girl’s adorable, restful face and snuggled in as close as she could next to it without disturbing her.

 _So you’re still here,_  she thought at the other girl, a little touched. Even after the amazingly intimate experience the two of them had shared last night, Cassie hadn’t really  _expected_ that Samantha would be – though this was  _her room_ , after all – because the blonde girl had more than her share of memories from her times with Tim and some of her other previous lovers where she’d awoken early in the morning only to discover that the person she’d gone to bed with the night before had already scampered off, either to get food or to shower or something else –  _something else,_ in Tim’s case, usually meaning  _back to Gotham before Batman noticed that he was gone._  Cassiehad half expected her to be gone when she woke up, and was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. It was so nice, delightful, really, to be here with Samantha in the  _morning_ , to see and feel her soft skin, warmed by their shared body heat, as soon as she opened her eyes. It felt so tender and intimate.

_Why did everything to do with this girl feel so tender and intimate?_

As sunlight spilled across the bed and across Samantha’s stomach the other girl moved towards the source of it in her sleep, and consequently towards Cassie. She snuggled against the blonde girl while Cassie watched, a smile playing on her lips, and then gradually woke when she felt the press of the other girl’s body against hers, opening her eyes. Cassie was already propped up on her side when Samantha woke, watching over her and casually playing with the dark hair that was splayed out across the bed sheets. “Hey cutie,” she smiled.

Samantha smiled and threw an arm over her eyes to shade them as she gazed up at Cassie and the way her blonde hair was haloed in the light. “Hey you.”

Cassie stretched herself longwise along Samantha’s body and kissed her shoulder, snuggling close. “Best sleep of  _my_  life.”

She smiled and slipped an arm around her. “I’m feeling pretty good too. And also hungry.” Her eyes darted to the left thoughtfully. “… which is a bit new.”

“Oh, yeah?” Cassandra raised her eyebrows, and smiled slightly. “Well, I did pile a dozen cars on you last night, and make you chase me across the city.” At the same time, her own tummy growled, and she frowned down at the offending organ. Despite the fact that she was, herself, hungry, she didn’t really want this interlude to end, and she was worried that once they were both out of this room, going about their daily lives, that the magic intimacy that she was feeling would be lost. “Ugh. I suppose it  _is_  breakfast time.”

Sam nodded and kissed along the other girl’s neck, cuddling in closer, her arms tightening around Cassie’s waist. “I  _am_  a breakfast eater.”

Cassandra groaned petulantly, enjoying the snuggles, nuzzling Samantha’s cheek in response to her kisses. “Mmmmm…. fine,  _alright._ Breakfasts it is.”

Samantha smiled a bit wickedly and nipped at Cassie’s neck, sliding her fingers up her spine. “Not that I’m in any hurry to get your taste out of my mouth.”

The blonde blushed, surprised and delighted by the flirting each time it happened. “You’re a minx.” She laughed, rolling over and planting a kiss on the tip of Samantha’s nose. She stretched out languidly. “I could  _happily_  spend all day here, you know.”

The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow with a little smile. “You don’t have anything you need to do today?”

The other girl pouted, sticking her lower lip out petulantly. “Grrrrnnnnn…. _I do, I do_ … I have cheer leading practice this morning, I just… ” she laughed, “ _don’t want to_. Want to stay here.”

Samantha laughed. “If you’re looking for a strong argument from me in favor of the shouting and jumping, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Cassandra smiled brightly and shrugged her shoulders, nipping at Samantha’s shoulder. “…that’s …  _not actually_  the part of having to go that I mind…it’s more to do with the  _leaving._ ”

The other girl smirked and dropped back on the pillows. “Is it about the killer boobs? Because you cannot be blamed, they are powerful.”

Cassie chuckled and smiled, leaning over and pressing her lips tenderly against Samantha’s breasts, one and then the other. “They  _are definitely_  a factor.” But there was something else, too, something that Cassie had been too happy, too excited about the amazing new connection she’d discovered between herself and this girl to think about last night. “…there’s also the fact that I went out in public yesterday without my disguise. I’m… well, a little nervous, about that.”

Samantha cocked her head. “You think your cover is blown?”

Cassie shrugged, running a hand through her own sex- and sleep-mussed hair. “I don’t know. I’m worried about it, though. Donna never _got_  outed, she just  _stopped being coy_ about herself one day, and Diana’s been in and out of secret identities since I was a pre-teen, but … I don’t know how I feel about going public as  _Wonder Girl_. _“_

The dark haired girl thought about it for a minute. “Well, people get secret identities for…for the peace and quiet, or the privacy, or to protect their family, right? Those are all pretty good reasons…”

Cassie nodded, sitting up slowly and stretching her back. The sore shoulder that had been bruised during her fight with Anomaly had already healed up. Super powers were awesome. “I only have my mom, though, and she’s already exposed. She’s  _Diana’s_  friend. We’ve been targets since I was 12.”

Sam shrugged, sitting up against the headboard and yawning a bit.  “Alright, so what are your concerns? Supervillain attacks in the middle of the school day?”

The blonde girl chuckled. “No, that happens all the time anyway.” It sounded kinda ridiculous, but was more true that not — especially, as she was learning, in Metropolis. “Bad guys don’t really pick convenient times of the day to strike. It’s just the public exposure, having  _everyone_  know who I am, paying attention to what I do, what I say…”

Samantha gave a little smile and shrugged. “I think it might be kind of fun, really. The fame part. And if you’re looking for a PR rep I always thought I would be excellent at that.”

Cassandra shook her head, amused by the other girl’s irrepressibility. “Mmmmm… I dunno. If everything about me  _did_  come out, I’d still like to keep  _you_  to myself _.”_ She bit her lip, flushing a little. Both of them blushed then, not quite meeting each other’s eyes, but both smiling. Then Cassie sighed, sat up, and slipped out of the bed, smiling and gathering her clothes up off of the ground.

Sam hopped out of bed a moment later, went to the closet on the wall and popped it open, pulling out clothing for the day: a light blue tank dress that ended cheekily around her upper thigh, and belted at the waist. “Cheerleading or breakfast, then?”

Cassie pulled on the clothes she was wearing the day before and then ran her hands through her hair and shook out the snarls. “Cheerleading,” she said with a sigh, pulling out her cellphone and checking the time. It was 6:17am now. “Practice is in 45 minutes. I gotta run back to my dorm and grab my gear. I’ll have to grab a donut or something on the way.” Stowing her cellphone in her coat pocket again, she smiled at Samantha. “What are  _you_  doing today?”

Samantha was getting into her underwear as she listened to Cassie, then slipped the tank dress over her head. “Probably studying. I’ve got some calculus to stress about, but first I need bagels.”

“Oh, I  _hate_  Calculus,” Cassandra grimaced, sticking out her tongue. She was dressed now, and had her purse in her hand, but although she was glancing at the door occasionally, she couldn’t bring herself to leave just yet. Instead, she kept grinning back at Samantha.”…so, good luck with the studying.”

Samantha slipped into nude heels and stepped to the other girl’s side, leaning up and kissing her. “Have fun at practice.”

Cassandra kissed her back, and then smiling, she slipped out the door. “Have fun breakfasting.” She continued smiling back at Samantha until she closed the door, and then with a pouting sigh she turned and headed down the hallway.

 

* * *

 

Cassandra did not have the best of mornings in Cheer leading practice. Although to her relief (when she dashed down out of her dorm room a few minutes before practice started, swept through the breakfast line at the dining hall, and then raced across campus to the gym) no one seemed any more  _particularly_ interested in the freshman coed today than they had been the day before, or at all interested in connecting her with  _Wonder Girl’s_  recent appearance in the campus district, distracted by daydreams about the evening she’d had the night before, and occasionally wondering what her beautiful lady lover was  _doing_  or  _thinking_  at that particular moment, the new cheerleader kept screwing up even the most  _basic_ routines that she and the rest of the squad were practicing. It was really embarrassing- at one point Cassie noticed that even her new friend  _Julie_  seemed to be getting annoyed at her inability to focus.

Finally the squad captain, a waifish blonde named Felicia who was almost on the point of tears, confused and surprised that her star recruit – who had  _never_  missed her steps before and who was  _always_ on-point during practices – was blowing her routines so badly, finally called a break for the girls around noon. She sent the girls all out for lunch but warned them to be back within the hour. With the first big game of the season on Monday, she said, they were going to have to practice their routines all afternoon – until  _everyone_ – she stared very pointedly at Cassie at that point – got them all down pat. Feeling chagrined because of her poor performance and inability to concentrate, instead of heading out of the gym towards the cafeteria with the rest of the girls, Cassie grabbed her neck towel and threw herself down onto her back on one of the risers, trying to get her mind off of a certain pretty blue-eyed girl.

 

* * *

 

Samantha, meanwhile, had spent the bulk of the morning worrying over a calculus book, a truly fascinating pursuit, but was having similar problems with distraction. The whole room smelled like the blonde girl from last night. And there were signs of their intimacy _everywhere –_  Samantha’s discarded clothes were all over the floor, for one thing. When she finally gave up shortly after noon, the dark haired girl grabbed her phone and sent off a text to Cassie. < _My pillow smells like you._ >

Cassie got the text while she still was toweling off on the benches. Sitting up as she read it out, all thoughts of trying to get her mind off of the girl on the other end of the message vanished. She grinned, feeling a happy-silly sensation in her tummy that she hadn’t felt for quite a while. Biting her lip, Cassie swept a few strands of damp hair out of her eyes and responded. < _Messing up my routine cause I can’t stop thinking about last night_ >

Samantha dropped what she was studying again when she received the return text and grinned.  < _Don’t expect any help from me in that corner. I’m nothing but trouble. ;)_ >

Still sitting on the benches when Samantha texted again, Cassandra grinned at the return text, and the speed of its return made her smile again, still chewing on her bottom lip. Briefly she dithered over what to send back – bold and flirty, or sweet and subtle? Finally, she decided on  _bold._ Samantha was the kind of girl who struck her as liking  _boldness. <Can’t stop thinking about how you taste.>_

The pause between texts was first thrilling, and then a little anxiety-inducing, so when the next one arrived Samantha abruptly stopped trying to focus on the book in front of her and just snatched up the phone. <  _You haven’t even had the main course yet tho. > _she typed, then smiled as she pressed “send.”

The return text made something heavy drop in Cassie’s heart, like  _a tug that put butterflies_   _to shame_. Blushing, grinning like an idiot, Cassandra waved Julie off with an apologetic smile when the other girl returned to lunch and bounced up the risers to ask about her night. She replied to Samantha’s text immediately.  < _Gosh,_ > she teased, < _What if I get addicted to how you taste? How could I satiate myself?_ >

Sam thrilled at the immediate reply to her flirting, flirting that was  _definitely_  bordering on sexting. She grinned and typed out, < _You’ll just have to keep me on tap, then_. >

The last response made Cassie’s heart jump again, and provided a very welcome boost to her confidence about the whole affair.  Taking a breath, with her next text, the blonde posed the question that was bouncing around inside her head. < _Mmm…you’re driving me to distraction. When can I see you again?_ >

Samantha bit her lip upon receiving the text and stared at the screen for a minute, deliberating. She didn’t want to seem over eager  _or_ under eager. < _Do you have Sunday night plans?_ >

Cassie read out the last text and shook her head immediately, forgetting for a second that she was  _texting_ , not _talking._  Grinning, she fumbled with her keys for a moment as she typed < _Not at all. A second FIRST date?_ > Staring at the message, she counted to five before sending it, not wanting to seem  _too_ eager herself.

Samantha grinned when she received the response she was looking for, rolling over onto her back and lifting the phone above her head. < _Same time, same place. Try not to get in any fights on the way there._ > She smiled, feeling like she’d won a considerable prize, and set the phone down.

Cassandra grinned at the final text, and responded with a heart full of feeling. < _I’ll be counting the minutes. Back to Practice now, though. Til tomorrow: XOXO_ >

* * *

 

Samantha studied away the rest of her afternoon and Cassie returned to cheerleading practice in a significantly improved mood. Though she was still fairly distracted by thoughts of last night and hopes for the upcoming evening, she managed to concentrate enough on her routines to get through the practice without any more serious screwing up, and the squad captain even managed a smile and an apology for her as they all shuffled out of the gym later that afternoon.

The rest of her evening she spent in her bedroom, alternating between homework and somewhat-less-than-casual internet checking. As she’d suspected, the people of Metropolis had not failed to notice that a blonde girl had shown up in the city claiming to be Wonder Girl. A handful of blurry photos of her fight with Anomalous existed, and were making the rounds on Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter, but fortunately all but one of them were too blurry for Cassie to even recognize herself in them. There was one though. Since no one seemed even remotely interested in wondering who the blonde ‘Wonder Girl’ was (in fact, most of the posters were just fascinated with the how and why of her hair color change) she decided she had nothing to worry about – for the moment, anyway. But that did beg the question. Could she go back to her disguise now that she’d outted herself as a blonde? She thought about it for a while, then wound up e-mailing Donna for her opinion before returning to her school work.

Meanwhile, Samantha showed up as expected at an party held later that evening at the Omega Beta Zeta house, where the year’s pledges were due to be announced. The Zetas made a practice of inviting a large number of bidders to get the maximum drama out of the evening, then winnowed the candidates ruthlessly. The party was, of course, a success for Samantha (who was picked to pledge, as she’d known she would be) and also a whirlwind of social activity. In the back of her mind, though, Cassie lingered, like a wonderful secret. While she alluded to a few new friends about a love affair the night before, she held onto the details for herself.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Cassie woke up to a pre-dawn phone call from Donna. Her ‘big sister’ was in Kyoto, doing some fashion photography shoots for  _Elle_ , and had seen Internet news-coverage of ‘Wonder Girl”s blonde debut in Metropolis only minutes before while she was eating dinner. Cassie explained the situation, and then the two super-powered young women discussed the ins and outs of secret identities for an hour or so before agreeing that it would attract more attention if Cassie were to resume wearing her dark hair wig, and that it would be best to just stick with the blonde hair,and hope that people wouldn’t catch on to the fact that the  _newly-blonde_  Amazonian super-heroine was also a  _college cheerleader at Met U_.

On that last point, however, Donna had words of caution for her ‘little sister': it would be far more difficult for Cassie to remain anonymous as Wonder Girl in a City known for its association with super-heroics if she was simultaneously performing publicly as a Cheerleader at games and pep rallies. Cassie conceded the point, but refused to give up on her new extracurricular activity until she felt she had no choice: she was  _making friends_  among the cheerleaders, friends who – for the first time since she turned 16 – weren’t a part of her semi-professional life, and she didn’t want to give that up.

As the evening approached, Cassandra felt herself growing more and more excited about her impending do-over ‘first date’ with Samantha. Going back into the bags of clothing Donna had made her purchase before the previously planned date, Cassie pulled out a caramel colored, high-waisted skirt with a black, long sleeved sheer top, and a pair of knee high boots with nude stockings. When attempting to replicate the makeup look she’d been treated to before by the professional cosmetologist Donna had introduced her to didn’t exactly work – although she didn’t do as badly as she’d feared – she made an early afternoon appointment at the corner salon and had a pretty young girl with short blue hair get her face looking pretty close again. Wearing a pair of silver hoops and a set of silver bangles, bright red lipstick and lavender eye shadow, Cassandra arrived at the bistro several minutes early this time, ahead of her date, and milled about outside the restaurant waiting for Samantha, thanking her lucky stars that Anomalous hadn’t come back for a repeat showing.

 

* * *

 

When Samantha showed up at the bistro a few minutes later, she was wearing a scandalously short black sweater dress with long lace sleeves. Her hair was up, pulled all to one side in a smooth loose bun, and she wore the same designer earrings from the last date, one of her favorites for the way the dark and light blue together set off the fierce blue of her eyes.  She was on time  _on the dot_ , carrying nothing but a small black clutch and strutting down the sidewalk in black matte pumps with rounded toes. Her eyes searched for and then locked on Cassie, smiling when she laid eyes on her and joining her out front. “You look amazing.”

Cassandra turned when she heard Samantha’s voice and smiled at her, her eyes sparkling with excitement, clutching her hands in front of her as she looked the blue-eyed girl once up and down, admiring both her taste in clothing as well as the whole effect of her appearance. “So do you! You look good enough to eat.” She grinned and held out her hands, opening and closing them invitingly.

Sam took both of Cassie’s offered hands and smiled, shaking her head. “I used my sure-thing dress on the first date, but I think considering that I improvised pretty well.”

Cassie grinned, leaning forward on her toes, and pressed her bright red lips delicately against Samantha’s dark ones, pulling her date’s soft smooth hands down to her sides and behind her own back, drawing the other girl closer and squeezing them softly.

Samantha blushed a bit at the kiss. She’d been known to hardcore make out with other girls in public, at parties, under the influence of alcohol, but she’d never exchanged soft kisses with a girl in a date situation on a not un-crowded street. “Mmm… um… Are you hungry?”

The tall blonde girl smiled into the other girl’s face, enjoying seeing  _her_  blush for a change. “My, my,” she mused, slowly smirking. “You are so adorable. And yes, I could eat a minotaur.” She winked.

Samantha chuckled and averted her gaze, squeezing her hand. “That’s quite an image. I hope you’ll settle for something more like a Panini.”

Now it was Cassandra’s turn to blush, averting her eyes. “…sure. Um, what’s a  _Panini_?”

The dark-haired girl smiled. “I am never going to get tired of expanding your horizons.” She headed for the front door of the bistro, tugging the taller blonde after her. “It’s kind of like a grilled cheese only it comes in a bunch of different varieties and is grilled in a waffle iron looking sandwich press.”

Cassandra raised an eyebrow and winced. “Mmmm…. don’t suppose they serve anything in there like a…. Quesadilla? Or a burger, or a…. chicken wing?” She blushed and laughed. “…gods, I sound like such an uncultured  _American._ ”

Samantha grinned, opening the door for her to pass through. “I’m sure they have regular american fare, too, but I’ve never met anyone opposed to melted cheese.”

Cassie accepted the chivalry with an eye-twinkling smile, kissing Samantha’s cheek as she slipped through the door. “Thank you, miss.” Samantha smirked and followed Cassie in to the bistro, where they were seated in the small, sparsely lit space. The room was mostly warm colors but still seemed especially clean and the music that was playing at a low level throughout the room was trendy. Cassie smiled, holding out Samantha’s chair for her when they were seated, then slipping into her own and crossing her legs with a teasing smile. She looked around herself with some delight, impressed by the semi-formal atmosphere and environment. “Nice in here.” She glanced back at her date, cocking her head to the side. “Have you been here before? I mean before our last date.”

Samantha sat, her skirt dangerously short enough that she had to cross her legs when sitting down to avoid flashing anyone who might be looking. “I’ve been meaning to try this place because it’s so close to campus, but I hadn’t got around to it yet.”

“Neato.” Cassie smiled, opening and perusing her menu with a smile. She tucked some of her blonde locks behind one ear. Rolling down the menu she blinked and whistled softly at some of the prices she saw listed for certain things such as appetizers, and then suddenly froze, laughing out-loud and glancing up at Samantha in bemusement. “So… this just occurred to me,” she whispered across the table. “When two girls go on a  _date_ …  _who pays_?”

Samantha smirked and shrugged, opening her own menu and looking through the options with interest, less concerned about the financial side of things than Cassie seemed to be. “I don’t know. There’s always fifty-fifty, or the who-asked rule.”

“Okay.” Cassie smiled, pleased that Samantha was so easy going about the issue. “Then I’ll pay.”

The blue-eyed girl smiled, watching her date idly from over the top of her menu. “So what looks good? Besides my legs in this dress.”

Cassie grinned back at her, ducking under her menu. “Honestly, I wish they had seated us differently so that I could still  _see_  them.”

Samantha smiled into her menu, her bright eyes sparkling over the top of it. “Well, the night is young, and patience is a virtue. Man, I might get dessert for dinner, dark chocolate, brie, and strawberries?”

“Really, desert so soon?” Cassie blinked in surprise. “You know, I was only  _slightly_  exaggerating: I really  _do_ feel like I could eat a Minotaur. A small one anyway.” She chuckled.

The shorter girl gave a little smile. “My appetite comes on strong and then wusses out in the middle of things.”

“Huh,” Cassie set her menu down and gave Samantha a curious look. “I wonder if that has anything to do with your… you know, what we discussed a few days ago.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow. That had not remotely occurred to her. Her general lack of appetite hadn’t ever before struck her as more than mildly unusual, and certainly not related to her powers. “My fickle stomach?”

The blonde girl shrugged. “Well, I didn’t use to  _eat_  as much as I do now before… but now, I’m never quite actually full, but no matter how much I eat I neither gain nor lose any weight. I’ve been 142 lbs. for two years.  _Exactly_.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t benching big stacks of cars burn  _more_ calories, though, not less? Unless I’m never actually burning up to my potential because I never get an adequate work out…”

The blonde shrugged again. “We don’t know how your…  _talents_ work, though. Mine are mystical, god-given. They increase as I age, but not in response to how much I exercise or work out. What if yours are… biological, in nature?”

The girl with the raven-black hair nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose it’s possible. I haven’t been fooling around in any chemistry labs anyway.”

Cassie giggled. “I know a few guys who’ve done that.”

She gave a little smirk. “I bet.That’s definitely not in my origin story. I guess if it’s biological that makes me sort of a late bloomer? I guess that sort of follows…”

Cassie cocked her head to the side. “…when  _did_  you start developing…. those talents?” She asked, being deliberately vague.

She shrugged one shoulder. “Around sixteen. I’ve always been kind of damage resistant though, so either there was always something going on or I’ve been super lucky. Falling out of trees and stuff.”

Cassie made a thoughtful noise and looked at the other girl for a moment, thinking. But then she shook her head and waved her hands in front of her face. “No, no. No more, not tonight.” She leaned forward and reached for one of Samantha’s hands, taking it, holding it, and squeezing it. “Tonight I don’t want to be  _gifted._  Tonight I just wanna be Cassie Sandsmark, on a date with the prettiest girl in school. I wanna know about  _who you are,_ not just what you can do … alright?” She smiled prettily and tried her most persuasive eyelash-batting.

Samantha chuckled and nodded, squeezing her hand back. “Alright, alright, just non-super details…like…what?” She gave a little smile and folded her menu.

“Like…” Cassie bit her lower lip, considering slowly. “…when did you know you liked  _girls_?” She grinned wickedly.

She laughed and shook her head. “Honestly, I didn’t have a clue until a couple years ago. I get so confused by the people who can recall being five years old with a gay crush.”

“Really?” Cassie was surprised by that answer. The blonde’s eyes grew large and round, and her eyelashes fluttered. “How’d you know? I mean, how’d you find out?”

Samantha sat back and brushed hair off her cheek. “Oh ya know, straight girls. House parties. One of my friends was trying to score with some dude…”

Cassandra sat up straighter, cocking her head to the side, a smile growing on her face. “Oh, this story sounds promising…”

The blue-eyed girl laughed. “What, you’ve never made out at a party in front of a dude?”

Cassie pouted, “Actually no,  _on both counts:_ never made out with a girl in front of a dude,  _never been to a real party._ ” She stroked Samantha’s hand and her eyes grew big and doe-ish. “C’mon, tell me the  _details_ …” she cooed, her smile still growing.

Samantha laughed again, leaning forward again, more than happy to take the bait. “Well…my friend and I were at this party and waaay waaay less drunk than we were pretending to be and she was totally bent out of shape over the senior whose friend was throwing the party. But  _everyone_ was bent over this guy, so I guess she figured she would find some way to stand out from the crowd, so to speak. Hoo boy did that work…” She smirked. “So she rolled up, wrapped an arm around my neck, and slipped me tongue. Then we were basically caught in this intense game of lesbian-chicken.”

Cassandra grinned, her eyes glowing with excitement and interest. “ _‘Lesbian **CHICKEN**?” _ She chortled. “What does that even mean?”

Sam giggled. “Well, I’ve always been pretty down for anything, so I was like,  _hell yeah cool._ And then everyone was watching, so it was like,  _how far does this go? Who’s going to pull away first?_  It sure as hell wasn’t gonna be me.” She grinned. “She was feeling up over the jeans before she punked out.”

“ _Jeans?_ ” Cassie exclaimed in disbelief. She giggled and grinned, her eyes wide wide open and her grin broad. “….Front or back?”

The dark-haired girl grinned. “The front. Apparently that was enough to make her panic. To be totally fair, I kept raising the bar. I went through a phase where you could dare me to do  _anything.”_

Cassie burst out laughing and clapped her hands over her mouth to keep from disturbing the people around them. Her eyes shone with delight and excitement. “You were feeling  _her_  up over the jeans too?”

Samantha smirked and shook her head, then nodded, admitting. “In my defense, she  _was_ using me to try and hook up with a guy.”

“No defense required, you sexy, sexy minx,” Cassie chortled, running her hands through her hair and beaming at her date. “That sounds  _hot._ I wish I could have seen that.”

Sam laughed. “All you probably would have had to do was be in my graduating class. The audience for that one was HUGE.”

Cassie groaned plaintively and pouted. “I don’t know if it’s weird that I kinda wish I’d seen my date making out with another chick,” she held up a hand to signal clarification, “you know, in a PAST TENSE, sense….but … that sounds like a  _hot_  sight.”

She smirked. “Oh no, I get it. I mean, I was there and it was pretty excellent. And I’m a performer, so it was probably extraordinarily fun to watch. Anyway, those were my first boobs. I was a goner after that.”

“What was your…” Cassie shrugged, not sure what the right word was, “… _reaction_  to that experience? How’d you feel about feeling up your friend? And did you ever put the moves on her afterwards?”

Samantha shrugged. “I mean,  _she_ got all weird about it and things were all awkward, but after that it was like a party trick. When she didn’t want to, I just found someone else.”

“Ohhhh… first girlfriend, or first girl… _lay_?” Cassie took a drink of her glass of water, then ran a fingertip along the rim of the glass, teasing Samantha’s stories out of her one at a time and enjoying the experience.

The dark-haired girl smirked, noticing the path Cassie was choosing to take and not minding at all. “I never really dated a girl…actually. I’m the girl that you figure out your sexuality with. Nobody wanted to  _experiment_ that much until senior year.”

Cassie raised her eyebrows at that. “ _Never_  dated a girl? Really?” She was surprised, and not a little confused. “How many girls did you … help to  _experiment_ with?”

Samantha gave a little smile and folded her napkin on her lap. “Experiment as in mutual nudity or making out with straight girls at parties?”

“Experiment as in…” Cassie waved her hand in front of her face, trying to find the right words, “you took a girl to bed and they didn’t freak out and leave in the middle?”

Sam laughed. “I think you’re underestimating how much straight girls are starving to get eaten. They don’t leave in the middle. I met a few girls who were bonafide interested, I suppose. Maybe two or three?”

Cassie smiled, less excitedly and more tenderly this time. She tipped her head to the side, examining the blue-eyed girl’s face as if she were looking  _into_ her, not just at her. “…you never tried to date a girl, or … weren’t interested, before …” she blushed.

The blue-eyed girl smiled softly and looked at her lap. “I think I might have had a shot once, but I wasn’t ready. I guess I really had to like someone enough before it was more important than… whatever hesitations.”

Cassie reached out and fished for Samantha’s hand again, sliding her fingers around and under Samantha’s and squeezing slowly. “Tell me about the hesitations?” She smiled encouragingly.

As soon as Samantha opened her mouth to answer, the waitress arrived and interrupted, taking their order. Samantha ordered the strawberry brie Panini and a diet coke before nudging Cassie’s menu.

Cassie frowned when the waitress approached, finding the interruption inopportune, but she still managed to order a second order of what Samantha had requested (flashing the other girl a nervous smile at the same time) and a regular coke for herself. When the waitress left, she leaned across the table again. “So…”

The dark-haired girl pursed her lips for a moment and leaned on her elbows against the table. “Well, the way people see me, and mostly my mom’s reaction. That’s probably about it.”

Cassie bit her lower lip and tilted her head to the side, pondering Samantha after her last disclosure. Finally, she took a breath and asked. “… are we in danger of exposing you here, being so close to campus?”

Samantha shrugged. “Probably not. It’s not like there are eyes everywhere or anything. I guess pledging might make that harder, but it…could be worth it.”

Cassandra’s smile reappeared in a slightly diminished form after that, and she sipped her water as she waited for her drink. “I didn’t know  _outing_  you was a risk. Would you like me not to tell anyone that we’re … seeing each other?” She asked, calmly and sweetly.

Sam winced a little and rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s my problem, not yours. I mean…an announcement in the Daily Planet would not be preferable, but I don’t think it’s a big deal if we tell a couple people. I’d- prefer to manage my mom’s reaction, should it come up.”

Cassie took Samantha’s hand again and gave it a tender squeeze. “I don’t wanna mess this up. If not outing you is important to you, then it’s important to me, too, okay?”

Samantha gave a weak smile and frowned a little. “Well, I like you a lot. And it’s not like I’m-  _closeted,_ I already have a small reputation here. I just hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Weren’t expecting to be asked out on a date by the new blonde cheerleader on campus?” Cassie’s smile expanded a bit more.

The dark-haired girl laughed. “Definitely not. I probably should have been prepared for such a scenario, huh?”

“I don’t know,” Cassandra smiled, her eyes growing soft and sentimental as she smiled at her. “You certainly weren’t in  _my plans_  for the semester, either.”

Samantha grinned and squeezed Cassie’s hand. “So what about you? When did you first dig girls?”

Cassie smirked and shook her head. “I don’t really know. Growing up trans, with testosterone blocks and stuff, I didn’t really  _notice_ girls the way other people noticed boys and girls. Girls were pretty, and nice, but I was really intense about being a  _normal girl_ , so I focused my romantic attention on boys _._ But then after Aphrodite changed me, I …” she blushed a little. “I started noticing  _a lot_  of girls. Boys too, but … yeah, girls. Awkwardly, I think Donna was the first…”

Sam gave a little smirk. “So you developed a good eye at a tender age. Did you notice her in person or was this admiration from afar?”

“Well I’d met her before, but one day after the change I caught a video of her on YouTube,” Cassie smiled wistfully at the memory. “I don’t know what it was, but something about her really caught my attention. I started noticing other women who looked like her, and that… sort of kicked the whole thing off. Not that I was a full-blown bisexual in high school or anything,” she shook her head. “There were a couple fleeting ‘secret romances,’ one of which went public, before my junior year, and a girl at summer camp, before my senior year, after Tim and I broke up. She was my first long term girl-girl relationship.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow in interest. “How long term was that?”

Cassie shrugged. “3 months, give or take? We met on the beach of Metropolitan National Park’s Summer Camp for Girl Scouts. She was 18, and a camp counselor, and I was 17 turning 18 and a Senior Troop leader the Gateway City Museum of Antique’s chapter of the Girl Scouts.”

The dark-haired girl’s face cracked in a smile, collecting the wrong information from the story. “You were a Girl Scout Troop leader?”

Cassie snorted and rolled her eyes, smirking as the waitress brought them their drinks and a basket of appetizer breadsticks. _“Yessss,_  I was a Girl Scout Troop leader. My mother was the actual leader, or whatever, and she raised me in the Brownies, and then the Girl Scouts, and until I was 17-cum-18, and then she let me take the troop to summer camp while she supervised moving the museum collection to Metropolis.”

Samantha giggled. “Oh my god that is so stinkin’ cute I can’t take it. I can picture you herding eight-year-olds while trying to balance your sexy gay affair.”

Cassie blushed and hid her smile behind a breadstick. “Well, I wasn’t the only troop leader along. There were three of us, and we took turns. When I had time off, I would hang out with Brandy.”

She grinned at Cassie as their food arrived at the table, two fat brioche sandwiches with brie, roasted strawberries, and dark chocolate melted inside. She waited until the waitress had left before continuing. “So what was Brandy like?”

The blonde girl across the table from Samantha raised her eyebrows in amazement at the food laid out before her. Lifting a fork, she started prodding at it, then tore off a bite size portion. “Uh… Brandy was …” she considered for a moment, “A California surfer girl, actually, from Malibu.” She grinned. “She was travelling the country working Camp jobs during her gap year, and wound up at my Camp. She was an aspiring poet, wide-eyed and dreamy.” She blushed, and hastened to correct herself, “–a dream _er_.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow at the description. Brandy sounded like a huge improvement over Tim, who had seemed much more beatable overall. “She sounds pretty great.”

Cassie grinned across the table, slightly pleased that she felt Samantha was feeling some jealousy for a girl she had never met. Reaching out for her new lover’s hand, however, she pulled it to her lips and kissed it tenderly. “She was pretty awesome, and I slept with her every 3 days for a summer, but it was a little over a year ago, and spending time with her  _never made me feel_  like spending time with you did last night.”

The girl on the other end of the table smirked, feeling caught by Cassie’s reaction and shaking her head a bit. “Well, you’ll forgive me for feeling a little smug about that. Though I don’t really know what the secret is.”

The blonde girl shook her head, giving Samantha a sappy, sweet smile as she tipped her head slightly to side. “Me either… I’m totally mystified _.”_ She kissed Samantha’s hand and then released it, digging into her food and taking her first bite. “Mmmm…. mmmm, that  _is_ good,” she said, surprised. “Anyway… tell me some more stuff about you, so that maybe I can understand why you’re so under my skin.” She flashed a bright and brilliant smile.

Samantha smirked and daintily cut up her sandwich, which was too gooey even to pick up but oozing chocolate out of the sides. “For starters, I have incredible taste. Which you may have already noticed.” She smiled. “I have a large circle of friends but only one or two close ones ever, I went to private school complete with uniforms so I’m really nutty about wearing whatever I want. I got sent home a lot for dress code.”

Cassandra smiled, listening while she cut up her own sandwich and sipped her soda. When Samantha stopped, Cassie snorted and raised an eyebrow at her. “I can’t see you in a school-girl’s uniform. You’re so willful and defiant.”

The other girl smiled. “It was a daily struggle. I kept making major alterations to my uniform that would make all the teachers get out rulers and shit. I think there were concerns all around about me making it through without being expelled. I don’t like rules. I don’t even like perfectly sensible rules, most of the time. I like philosophy and psych so far, haaaate math. I love to go dancing, I’ve studied martial arts for years…”

“You studied Martial Arts?!” Cassie’s eyebrows went through the roof, and she coughed on her food, waving her hand in front of her face as she forced down some water. “Mmmm… I’m coming back to the rest of that, but…  _Martial Arts?”_

Sam smiled a bit demurely and sat back. “My mom is a body guard, and like a lot of little girls, there was a time I wanted to be  _just like mommy._  So I can kick some ass. It’s also fun.”

 _“_ A …  _talented_  Martial Artist,” Cassie whistled lowly. “You’d make one hell of a superhero.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow. “Me? I don’t think I have the temperament.”

“Mmmmmm….” The blonde girl cocked her head to the side and smirked. “I don’t know… I think you might be surprised.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Anyway, I’m more interested in something else you said:  ** _your mom is a bodyguard at Lexcorp?_**  For Mr. Luthor? _”_ Something suddenly clicked in Cassandra’s mind, and then she froze, her face draining of color. “…holy shit, your mother is  _Mercy Graves._ ”

The other girl blinked a few times at Cassie and then nodded. “Well…yeah. I’m actually surprised you’ve heard of her. She makes a lot of effort to remain pretty low key.”

Cassandra was flabbergasted. She stared open-mouthed at Samantha for a moment, sitting back in her chair, her mind working.  _She was dating the daughter of MERCY GRAVES?_   _Holy shit_. “…wow,” was what she finally settled on. “…so that’s news.”

Samantha paused for a moment, her mind working, and then looked sort of bemused. “Well it’s not like stop-the-presses kind of news, it’s like…society page or like tabloid except totally uninteresting- what does my mom have to do with anything?”

“Your mom …” Cassandra fished for words, trying to figure out how to explain all the things that she’d heard  _Mercy Graves_  was to the woman’s own  _daughter._   _Her_  own … date.  _Mercy_  was  _Samantha’s_  mother. But what did Cassandra really know about Mercy? She stopped to think – only what she’d heard from Donna, Diana, Tim, Dick, Barbara. She trusted them, but … it wasn’t  _first-hand_ knowledge, and it might be mistaken…  She shook her head. “…I-I I guess I’ve just heard some really bad things about your mom. But… I’ve only heard them  _second-hand,_  so they might be untrue or incorrect…. anyway, I was just surprised.”

Samantha’s head jerked a little and she frowned, blindsided by the reaction. She knew Lexcorp wasn’t exactly a huge fan of superheroes in general from a political perspective and she figured that the feeling was probably mutual, but Cassie’s reaction was more dire than that. The way she was choosing her words made her wonder in fact if the blonde reflecting whatever it was she heard  _on her._ “Wha- what is it that you’ve heard? I mean, I know some things about Lexcorp’s politics rub people the wrong way, but that’s her  _job._..” She forced a laugh. “It says  _way less_ about her than her actual personality, which is unpleasant.”

“Samantha,” Cassie cut in as soon as her lover finished speaking. “Please, understand, some of my friends have … told me that they’ve actually come to  _blows_  with your mother. Over Lexcorp operations of an…illegal kind. Like I said, those identifications  _could be_ mistaken.” Reaching over the table, she took Samantha’s hand and pressed it, gently. “But even if they’re not,” she said, boldly, making the decision in the moment she said it, “ _I don’t care._  I want to be with you, and I don’t give a crap who your mom is. Okay?”

Samantha frowned, because she  _didn’t disbelieve_  Cassie for a moment, and anyone else might have been put out of their chair pretty quickly upon saying the same thing. She weighed up the possibilities in her head: that her mother had been up to something unlawful, or that Cassie’s friends had some reason to lie about Mercy, but none of the possibilities involved her date lying. That all took a back seat to Cassie’s declaration, though, and she smiled a little, meeting the other girl’s jade eyes. “Well…good. I want to be with you too. And it  _doesn’t_ matter. It doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

Cassie looked down at her plate after that, her blonde hair falling in front of her face. She tried to hide the smile she couldn’t keep off of her face at Samantha’s response behind her hair, but she was only slightly successful. After a minute she took a deep breath and glanced upwards, slowly. “…good. I’m glad.” She squeezed the dark-haired vixen’s hand again and then continued. “My life is… full of secrets. My identity, my ‘sister,’ my mother, my father…” she thought briefly about her ‘exposure’ as a blonde, and smiled thinly. “I used to think secrets were a necessary part of my life. But… I’m starting to feel like secrets only hold me back. Tim and I could never be honest with each other about our lives, and barely even our identities. Brandy never knew I had superpowers or a secret identity, or anything. I could never tell her about  _who I really was._  Maybe … maybe that is part of the reason those relationships ended.” She sat back in her chair and lifted her eyebrows at Samantha, cocking her head slightly to the side. “… no secrets between us, okay?”

Samantha nodded. She’d only had the one secret when they met and Cassie was the first person in the world she’d exposed that secret to. She hadn’t dreamed that honesty would ever go over so well. She wondered if Cassie was asking, in a roundabout way if she knew anything morally questionable about her mother’s job. She didn’t, though. In fact it was hard for her to imagine that Lexcorp could be anything besides what she’d always been told it was. “I think you’ve got a leg up on me in the department of secrets. I’m good at keeping them but I don’t have much in the way to tell.”

Cassie smiled again, but it was a regretful one this time. “… not yet, anyway.” Then she looked down at her plate and took a bite of her food, washing it down with a drink of soda. “Back to the date at hand?” She smiled, more hopefully.

 

* * *

 

Sam resisted the immediate urge to pursue Cassie’s comment, understanding that some things were best left alone. She smiled. “This  _is_ the date at hand. We’re getting to know each other. For example,  _I’m_  discovering that you’re- or at least your  _friends_  aren’t a huge fan of Lexcorp. And apparently  _you’re_  learning my last name.” She smirked.

‘Well I  _knew_ your….” Cassie blinked, a bite of food halfway to her mouth, and then slowly blushed. “… I  _think_  I knew your last name…”

The dark-haired girl laughed and took a bite, taking her time to chew smugly. “You never did. Seemed like a boring detail, I had no idea it was  _scandalous_ ,” she teased.

“No, I totally did,” Cassie laughed out loud, insistently. “I read it on the cheerleading tryouts results board! I just… forgot…”

Samantha grinned. “Well, I suppose that was the last big secret. Oh and I’m bisexual.” She slapped a hand over her mouth playfully.

“ _Practicing Bisexual?_ ” Cassandra grinned at her provocatively. “I’ve heard about the girls…  _now_  tell me about all the  _boys_  whose hearts I’m breaking right now?” She winked at her from behind her blonde hair.

The blue-eyed girl giggled and shook her head. “Oh, too many boys. I have undoubtedly ruined lives and crushed dreams. Older guys, mostly. My first time sleeping with a girl was at the same time as my then-boyfriend.” She chuckled. “Three-ways were not exactly what he expected.”

Cassie raised an eyebrow at her blue-eyed date and grinned slowly, uncertainly. “…  _do tell,_   _PLEASE.”_

Samantha giggled.  “Well, he seemed to have the idea that it was going to be like a dick sandwich or something but I was  _waaay_  more interested in the  **new** person in the room and  **much** better with vaginas than he was. I made it fun for him, but not as fun as he expected it to be.”

The blonde girl laughed, her eyes sparkling again. The subject of Samantha’s mother was banished from her mind. “You’re so much fun,” she said, warmly. “So… no girls, but ….how many  _boys_ have you had serious relationships with?”

The other girl made a little face. “Serious relationships? Serious as in like, I took them seriously, or serious as in it lasted over a month? Because if it’s the first one, the answer is two, and if it’s the second one, the answer is probably more like five.”

Cassandra shrugged, her face alight with excitement and interest. “Let’s go with the former. The ones that  _meant something_  to you. Tell me about the boys who cracked into your heart, even if only slightly.”

Samantha smiled, a bit shyly. “First guy was Mark, this tall aloof jock from the track team. Runners- yikes.” She smirked. “I was a freshman and he was a junior and he was- earnest. Not smart. Really really dark eyes. Then around the beginning of sophomore year I transferred to Met Academy and that was that.”

Cassandra smiled, chewing her food quietly and resting her cheek on one palm, smiling encouragingly at her date. Beneath the table, one booted leg, crossed over the other, was swinging back and forth slightly idly, occasionally brushing against Samantha’s. “And the second?” She asked, leadingly.

The dark-haired girl smirked. “Junior year. He started out as straight-up rebellion, one of Luthor’s interns. I wanted mom to find out and I wanted her to be pissed. He’s probably midway through law school now. He was a dick, but I liked him anyway. Wouldn’t take me to prom, kind of douchey about everything else.”

“Awww,” Cassandra’s eyes twinkled with curiosity as she finished her food. “Oh, sorry to interrupt, but I have to thank you, this food was  _delicious._  Anyway… you were only dating him because you wanted your  _mom_  to find out, and be mad, but … you said it meant something to you?”

Samantha grinned. “I  _am_  generally right about food. What I do eat I adore passionately.” She wiggled her eyebrows and her eyes gave a dirty twinkle. “Yeah, I was in a phase where not-giving-a-shit was super alluring. He was just old enough to make me feel like his attraction to me made me powerful, when in reality I was handing over all the power.”

Cassandra blushed at the first remark, and then tossed the wrapper of her drink’s straw at her date. “Tease.” Then she found herself nodding in response to Samantha’s description of her relationship with the stand-offish intern. “Yeah, that makes sense,” she said, smiling ruefully. “I can sympathize. I think that dynamic had a lot to do with why it was so hard for me to break things off with Tim.”

The other girl nodded sagely. “I think you’re allowed one douche-bag in life, as long as you don’t start to make it a habit. After him, I didn’t really date, as you say,  _seriously_.”

Cassandra smiled and swirled her drink around in her glass for a moment, then took another sip. “So… since you’ve obviously had more experience and sampling than me, let me ask,” she grinned slyly. “Who’s better? Boys or girls?”

Sam laughed. “If I were to score them all and average them out I am more than certain they would break even. Though I will say, I’m of the opinion that a talented girl with a strap-on could probably make men sexually obsolete.”

Cassandra blushed and ducked her head, grinning and giggling. “Oh, I have to say that is  _one thing_  I have not tried yet. Though, there are  _many_ things that I have not tried yet, so that’s saying a lot.” She tipped her head to the side and her smile turned more affectionate. “Good news…”

Samantha smiled and sipped on her soda, running her bare leg purposefully against Cassie’s. “What’s good news?”

Cassie sipped her drink and reached discreetly under the table to stroke Samantha’s bare leg once. “I think we have reached the end of ‘semi-sexy, semi-awkward questions about the exes’ _.”_

The dark-haired girl chuckled. “It is always nice to remove that from the checklist. And early, too. So we’re moving on to things more like, what are you taking right now? What do you do on weekends?”

“I suppose,” Cassie winced and blushed, shrugging one shoulder. “I’m sorry, is that trite or overplayed? You may have noticed I’m not very … experienced at the whole ‘ask-out-on-date/go-on-date/make-date-conversation’ thing.” She bit one lip.

Samantha smirked and sat back in her chair, charmed by her earnestness. “We get to design this, it’s our date. What do  **you** want to talk about?”

Cassie tilted her head to the side, studying Samantha’s beautiful face with her eyes. “… well I want to know all those things… what you like to do, what you have to do, why you do it, what you  _want_  to do… but right now I’m more interested in shooting for the moon.”

The other girl smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Literally or figuratively? You can fly, I require a little clarification.”

Cassandra laughed, licking her lips slowly. “No, I’m sorry, I should have thought –” Her cheeks were pink, because what she wanted to ask made her feel … vulnerable, emotionally, and that made her feel bashful and nervous. “–not literally. Figuratively. I want to know what you  _want_.”

Samantha winced and cocked her head, her fingers running absently over the back of Cassie’s hand on the table. She noticed how nervous she’d become but wasn’t catching why just yet.  “What I want?”

Cassie blushed and shifted in her seat awkwardly, uncrossing and recrossing her legs the other way around, her face getting redder and redder as she tried to figure out how to ask this tough-as-nails power-chick about her  _feelings._  “I mean, like… sometimes when I … watch a romantic movie, or sitcom, or read a book that features a love story in it that I root for, or play a video game with one …. I catch myself feeling little tugs on my heart strings, and later I think ‘ _That_. That’s what I want.'” She took a deep breath and let her eyes roam over Samantha’s face. “What do  _you_  want?”

Sam blushed a little and bit the corner of her lip, shifting in her seat and giving a little smile. “I guess I want…passion. I want to feel like it would matter to someone if I disappeared one day.”

Cassie tried and failed to contain her smile, and she bit her lip as she ducked her head down and to the side, her eyelashes fluttering slightly. “Well, then that’s something we both have in common, I suppose,” she said quietly, her smile growing in spite of her efforts.

Samantha smiled warmly at Cassie’s reaction. “I try not to hold many expectations, but those are things I definitely want. Things I’ve been looking for.”

“Actively looking?” Cassie raised her eyebrows in some disbelief. Her smile remained affectionate and warm. “You… you just seem so independent and self-reliant. I was a little concerned you might not be particularly interested in … an emotional entanglement.” She winked. “… but I’m glad to be wrong.”

Sam chuckled. “The last year or so? I’ve been actively looking to  _get laid_. You know they say though that as soon as you stop looking for it, it comes along.”

The blonde girl laughed in response, charmed. Feeling encouraged, she sat up straighter, grinning, and shook her hair out over her shoulder. “Thank you,” she said, taking an easy breath for the first time in a few minutes. “For answering that so generously. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d put it off with irony or something else.”

The other girl smirked, a bit chagrined. “That  _does_  sound like me. So now that you’ve shot for the moon- what  _are_  you taking?”

“Uh….” Cassandra grinned and shook her head. “Calculus, Brit Lit 1, Intro to Greek and Roman Mythology.” She grinned. “That last one might be a bit… easy.”

The dark-haired girl grinned. “I’m getting my easy A in Philosophy 101 right now, I get that. Why Brit Lit?”

The blonde girl shrugged, looking silly and mischievous. “ _Beowulf,_  obviously.”

Samantha chuckled. “Obviously? What exactly is obvious about Beowulf?”

“Mythology, sweetie,  _Mythology.”_  Cassandra smiled, sipping her soda and bouncing in her chair as winked at Samantha.

Sam grinned. “Well great literature may have eluded me along the way, you’ll have to fill me in on some of that.”

Cassie smiled back, her look turning more cloying and seductive. “Brit Lit I is also the one with the sweet and sexy love poetry of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. I’d love to read some of  _those_  to you.”

The other girl grinned and leaned forward slightly. “Sounds like my preferred kind of learning.”

Cassie blushed and laughed again, fingering some of the strands of her hair. “You make me smile so easily,” she mused out loud, thinking up questions for her date. “Okay, so, your turn. Current classes and extracurriculars.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow, recalling. “Calculus, Psych, Philosophy, and Chem. I just pledged Alpha Beta Zeta last night.”

“Oh, you pledged the rich kids and future world dominators sorority?” Cassie laughed. “What’s initiation for  _that_ like? Hostile Takeover of a Fortune 500 company? _Coup D’etat_  of a 3rd world country?”

The blue-eyed girl at the opposite end of the table smirked. “So far they all seem like  _fast friends_  of mine. When people call girls dangerous and dominating that’s just another word for ambitious. And I am probably more ambitious than the majority of them.”

“Well, that segues nicely into my  _next_  question,” Cassie teased, leaning forward and wiggling her eyebrows. “Just what exactly _are_  your Ambitions, Miss Lexcorp 2014?”

Samantha grinned. “To be rich and powerful and beautiful. Oops, third goal already accomplished,” she teased. “But really. I want to have an effect on the world, a positive one. I haven’t decided the best way to do that yet, but the path to a little power never hurts, and neither do powerful friends. Maybe something like Angelina Jolie without all the kids.”

Cassie gave her date a wry smile. “You do realize that what Angelina Jolie does  _is_ all about the kids, right?” she winked. “I have to tell you, people with money make me uncomfortable. And I  _know_ ,” she rolled her eyes, “how weird that sounds given that I know  _actual royalty,_  but still.”

Sam shook her head. “She’s all about empowerment activism. She goes into impoverished areas and invests in the local economy to give it a boost. That’s definitely something someone can do domestically, too.” She inched her empty plate away, setting down her fork. “And  _I_  don’t make you feel uncomfortable, and I have and come from pretty considerable money. Which you guessed early.”

“Yeah, but I’ve slept with you, remember?” Cassandra smiled and blushed. “And there’s this… this intimacy between us, or at least, I think there is, and it’s  _different_  with you. Even the flirting we were doing back on Monday made me feel less awkward around you than I normally would have been.” She shrugged.

Samantha smirked. “So you need to sleep with rich people in order to be comfortable with them? That’s intriguing.”

Cassandra stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying that sleeping with you is  _one of the things_  which helps me to be more comfortable with people. I’m not particularly comfortable around Donna’s rich friends, either.”

Sam nodded. “Well, why not?”

Cassie shrugged. “I don’t know.” She thought about it for a moment and grimaced. “My world runs on certain rules. There are moral rules, and some legal rules that I just feel are… important. Set in stone. Don’t murder. Don’t torture or abuse. Don’t persecute people for perceived differences. But money … money has a funny way of fudging those rules for people who have enough.” She shifted in her seat. “I don’t _blame_ people for having money, but there is a certain air that moneyed people often get at a certain age, once they’ve realized that having  _enough_  means the rules no longer apply to them the way they do to other people. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but…. it just makes me uncomfortable.” She sighed. “Can you understand?”

The other girl nodded slowly. “I’m not going to try and pretend that those people don’t exist, or that I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. I just think that the inverse problem is just as likely to cause people to- fudge. As long as you start to believe the things you are doing are the only options available to you, anyone can bend those rules to breaking.” She thought about it for a minute. “For me…money is  _safety._ Money means less risk of being put in a position where someone else has power over you.”

The blonde girl shrugged reluctantly and smiled back. “I guess I can see the validity of that perspective. I suppose that’s what I rely on … my  _special talents_  for.”

Samantha nodded with a little smile. “I just think the more you look at things, the more complicated things get. Having…a silver spoon in your mouth  _does_ put a person at risk for moral ambivalence, but,” She chuckled. “…as I’m learning in Psych 101, so does wonky brain chemistry, absent or abusive parents, and complete poverty.”

Cassandra cocked her head to the side, coming back to something Samantha said earlier. “You know I pointed out my obvious affinity for classical mythology earlier and you countered with an A in psychology. What’s your special affinity to the subject?”

The blue-eyed, black-haired girl shook her head. “ _Philosophy_. I’ve been studying Ethics and political philosophy for years. I started out with Plato and Aristotle and then moved on to Aquinas, Descartes, Confucius, Sun Tzu…I doubt the class will end covering a quarter of that knowledge.”

“Philosophy?” Cassie’s face colored and she apologized, staring into her drink. “I can’t believe I forgot that less than 10 minutes later. Phil-o-so-phy.  _Philosophy._  I always get those two confused. Sorry, sorry. Anyway…” she waved a hand and bit her lip, still blushing. “Why are  _you_  so interested in what people who wrote hundreds of years ago had to say about the human condition?”

Samantha chuckled. “You make it sound so  _fascinating_  when you explain it like that. It teaches you how to argue, how to talk to people, how to win at conversation. Someone handed me  _The Art of War_  at an impressionable age and I got pretty into the idea of thinking about the universe as a whole. It makes me feel like we’re all connected, like a big human organism made of thoughts and emotions.” She smirked and rubbed her face. “Maybe I just made it sound crazy.”

The blonde girl shook her head, still blushing. “No, no, you make it sound really, really interesting. And when I said what I did, I wasn’t trying to poke fun at it. Remember, my favorite subject is the stories people who lived hundreds of years ago made up to try and understand their universe – why the sun rose and set, who determined how long the seasons would be – I put a lot of stock in what people who lived hundreds of years ago have to say about anything.” Biting her lip again, she dropped her head and peeked up at her date from behind her hair. “…maybe you could teach me, a little?”

Samantha’s face lit up and she leaned in a little. “That could be fun. And interesting. There’s a lot about morality. I wouldn’t recommend starting with Nietzsche.”

Cassie smiled charmingly. “As you say,  _rector.”_ She sat up straight and waved a waiter over, requesting desert menus before sending him on his way. When he was gone, the blonde girl glanced back at her date and smiled again. “So moving on: what are your hobbies? Your passions?” She glanced at the menu and then held it up. “Your secret pleasures, your tastes, your…just tell me everything, okay?” She laughed lightly.

Sam smiled and took a look over the dessert menu. “Well, we covered that I like girls, dancing, martial arts, fashion, philosophy, money…I like a little  _Project Runway_ …I love getting out of town and seeing new things, trying new things, eating new food. I had more occasion to ride horses and swim when I was younger but not so much lately.” She smiled at the menu. “And I will always eat ice cream at a moment’s notice, no matter what.”

Cassandra laughed. “Dessert’s on me, along with the rest of the dinner, so order whatever you like, beautiful.” She blew the pretty girl a kiss. “So… travel…. dancing… fashion….” The blonde laughed as she tried to count on her fingers the new things she’d just been told, “…travel… ‘trying new things’… riding horses, swimming…” she smiled sweetly, “and ice cream. Where to start…?”

Samantha gave a little smile. “I’m starting at ice cream.” She showed her the menu and tapped the strawberry ice cream torte. “Obviously, strawberries. When they’re in season.”

Cassie laughed again. “I like strawberries with chocolate. …But then I pretty much like  _everything_  with chocolate, so that’s not that interesting.” She waved the waiter over again and ordered a strawberry and chocolate syrup banana split, and whatever Samantha wanted. When he left again, she raised her eyebrows. “I’d like to start at …. _dancing._ ” She grinned. “What kind?”

Samantha ordered her dessert and handed over the menu. “Hip hop, I guess? Whatever’s popular. I really love modern dance but I’ve never had the occasion to try it.”

“That’s so cool. You mean like you want to take formal dance classes?” Cassie grinned and planted her chin in her hand on top of the table.

The dark-haired girl smiled and blushed. “Maybe I wouldn’t take it  _that_  far. It’s fun…for fun. Don’t you dance for fun?”

Cassie bit her lip and blushed. “Actually… I have a confession to make. I love  _clubbing._ ”

A slow smile spread across Samantha’s face, glowing with delight. “Seriously? For real? I wouldn’t have pegged you…we should go sometime. I am  **evil** on the dance floor.”

Cassandra was still blushing, running one of her hands through her hair and laughing self-effacingly. “I would love to see that,” she said, making flirty eyes at her date. “ _Love.”_ Sipping and draining the last of her soda, she leaned forward and lowered her voice to an intimate level. “Tim introduced me to clubbing during ….’Wonder Girl’s’ partnership with ‘Robin’ to chase down a teen exploitation and trafficking ring. I was ‘bait.’ He took me to a dozen clubs in Gotham and the surrounding cities between there and Gateway. It was all undercover, incognito, but … I got  _hooked._  I loved the feeling of dancing. Maybe it’s the powers, but it just feels  _good_  to me, natural.”

The other girl smiled and nodded. “No, I get that, it feels great. The throbbing music and the push of the people and moving your body…” She wet her lips. “So if you were  _bait,_ does that mean you were dancing solo?” She gave a little smile and raised an eyebrow.

Cassandra blushed and nodded her head. “Yeah, Tim would play the part of my overbearing boyfriend, but he was always on the outskirts of the club. My job was to be the bait in the center of the floor, so… I always danced alone. Y’know, until someone came up to me…” She winked. “After all, I was supposed to be  _alluring._ ”

Samantha grinned. “I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that. But I would much rather be out there dancing  _with you_. It’s like having sex to music with an audience.”

Cassandra grinned, ducking her head behind her hair and taking a deep, shaking breath. “Oh my goddess, you make me so hot,” she whispered, uncrossing and recrossing her legs conspicuously under the table. “So, you’re a little bit of an exhibitionist?”

Sam grinned at the effect of her words, watching her squirm in her seat with delight. “Not for lack of trying,” she murmured. “And … _yes_ , I am. To a certain degree- I  _do_  like to be watched.”

Cassie licked her lips and shook her head, laughing and rolling her eyes. “Well, you’re… not the only one of us who does, then.” She blushed. “We’ll go dancing…” She took a deep breath and moved along, feeling herself starting to get tingly in the restaurant. “… so, moving  _on…_ ‘travel?'”

Samantha chuckled, not exactly wishing to let up on the particular line of thought. She decided to show mercy for the moment, though. “Anywhere. I love Metropolis, don’t get me wrong, but I want to see a bunch of places, and preferably not on work trips with my mom this time around.”

Cassandra grinned. “Well, you know, it’s too bad I’m not  _out_  as Wonder Girl. The Amazons who work publicly in ‘Man’s World’ get diplomatic visas that would let us go anywhere. But I could fly you anywhere you wanted to go, you know, for  _free._ ”

The dark-haired girl smiled, biting her lip. “You want to go on like a weekend trip or something? Where would you want to go? How do you fly with someone over that much distance?”

“Sammi,” Cassie said softly and in an intimate tone of voice, before she stopped and blushed, “Wait, sorry, can I call you ‘Sammi?’ Do you have … preferred nicknames? Ooh, good date question.” She grinned. “Yes….” she leaned across the table and took Samantha’s hand. “I would  _love_  to go on a trip with you. An _d I’d love to go many places with you._  But where do  _you_  want to go?”

Sam’s gaze went soft and she wrapped her fingers around the blonde’s, running her thumb across the back of her hand. “How far can we go? I could never find an excuse for France, we’d go on these long looping European vacations and none of them ever included anything French or Italian or…” She smiled a bit. “I’m presuming though. And I do not have a preferred nickname.”

“We can go  _anywhere._  Paradise Island, for one…” She cocked her head to the side and smiled slowly, thinking. “” _Hmmmm_ … Samantha… Sammi, with an  _i_ , Sammy, with a  _y,_  Sam….?” She laughed. “Do you have a preference? What sounds … sweetest? Sexiest?”

She laughed and shook her head. “I like it with an i, no one’s ever used that before.”

Cassie smiled, squeezing Samantha’s hand. “ _Sammi_. I like the idea of having my own, special name for you.” She sat back as their deserts arrived, making room on their table by handing their empty plates over. The server also provided fresh drinks. When he was gone, the blonde girl jumped back to the travel topic. “Look, this may be a bit soon for long term plans, so I’m not setting a  _date,_  but if you could take three days, anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

Samantha smiled and broke off a piece of her torte with a spoon and lingered with the spoon in her mouth, savoring and teasing at once, giving the utensil a little lip. She closed her eyes for a minute, then opened them and smiled. “Venice,” she said, conclusively.

“Venice,” Cassandra let the name roll around on her tongue for a minute, scooping up a spoonful of ice cream and holding it out across the table for Samantha to try. “Alright, it’s a date. Date to be determined. Now tell me why.”

The other girl smirked and took the ice cream off her spoon slowly before answering. “Mmm,” she offered, pressing two fingers to her lips. “Canals, fashion, Italian food, beautiful architecture and beautiful…everything…”

“Sounds fantastic,” Cassie tilted her head to the side and rested her cheek on her hand, smiling at her date. “Mmmmmm… that sounds lovely. And, you know, I’ve never been, so we’d be discovering it together.”

The thought of taking off for a long weekend of romance in a foreign country with Cassie already seemed ridiculously natural to Samantha, and she smiled. “Have you traveled a lot, since you can now?”

The blonde girl across the table shook her head, smiling wistfully. “Nah. Not really. A few trips to Paradise Island, which is… wonderful.” Cassandra smiled. “Think about all those fantasy movies and their amazing, virginal, pastoral landscapes dotted with beautiful residences and pristine monuments – that’s Paradise Island. It’s heaven on earth.” She winked. “And then of course, there’s Olympus. My…” she laughed, “My  _dad_  requires me to come visit once a year on my birthday. Other than that…a few business trips for ‘work’,” she made air quotes. “Taipei once. New York, Gotham, Coast City…”

She smiled. “Sounds like the highlights, really. I got dragged around everywhere but most of the time those outings were short on fun. All business. I loved it anyway though.”

The blonde girl tipped her head to the side and smiled at her date again. She got lost in the other girl’s brilliant blue eyes for a moment and then took a breath and shook her head a little, awestruck. “…Your eyes are so beautiful.”

Samantha demurred a bit, especially susceptible to comments about that particular trait. She rubbed the back of her neck. “I think they freak some people out, honestly.”

Cassie shook her head again, more emphatically. “Not me. They’re so clear and richly blue. It’s electrifying sharing a look with you.”

Sammi smiled and ran her fingers across Cassie’s knuckles. “The same can be said about your smile.”

Cassandra blushed and ducked her own head a little, smiling. Her voice became quiet and intimate again. “… I like it when you say things like that. I like it a lot.”

The other girl smiled, tipping her head a bit. “Good. I don’t want to come across like a creep.”

The blonde shook her head again, even more emphatically. “Oh, you’re  _not_! Not at all!” She covered her mouth, trying not to yell in the crowded bistro. “No, I  _love_  the flirtations, the sweet ones… and the sexy ones.” She wiggled her eyebrows and flushed more intensely. “I just don’t want you to think that when I … blush, or duck my head,” she waved up at her current posture and smirked, “… that I don’t  _like_  what you’re doing. It’s cause I  _do_  like it.” She lifted her eyes and smiled at her date. “ _So_  much.”

Sammi gave a little smirk and squeezed Cassie’s fingers, eyeing the blushing girl with new eyes, her smile growing. “I just don’t want you to melt away from embarrassment or anything is all. I prefer you in your solid state,” she teased.

Cassie shrugged one shoulder, still blushing. “You give me butterflies whenever you flirt with me. Sometimes more like… birds or something. I love it. I just can’t help but show it on my face, too.” She rolled her eyes. “I blush too easily.”

Sam grinned and shook her head. “That might be true. I’m pretty excited about the prospect of causing you…birds, though.”

Cassie grinned at her. Finishing her desert with two more bites, she made a happy/contented moan-sound and patted her belly happily. “Good food!”

She chuckled. “Did you get fed enough? Not a  _minotaur_ -sized meal exactly; we could always crash somewhere and order a pizza.”

The blonde girl giggled, unhooking the shoulder strap of her purse off of the back of her chair and pulling several large bills out and laying them on the table. She included a 10$ tip. “Well, that … _might_  be an idea for  _later,_ perhaps,” she teased, cagily, “but for now, I wanna take you on a walk, under the stars.”

**Author's Note:**

> Super-clone Science stuff: Given the various kinds of tinkering and multi-trial formulae that Lexcorp and Cadmus scientists no-doubt engaged in while trying to produce a viable Super-clone from their small sample of Kryptonian DNA we figure there's no reason that SuperBOY couldn't have been SuperGIRL (keeping in mind that gender isn't automatically tied to genitalia or chromosomes.) A lot of what follows is just speculation about how things might have gone had the Superclone been assigned female at birth. It's also a fantastic excuse to write an awesome ship as femslash. And clones!


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